SAN JOSE – The San Jose Sharks gear up for a back-to-back on home ice just ahead of the Christmas break, and they kick things off with a matinee contest against the LA Kings.
Despite losing to the Jets 5-3 on Thursday, Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer said the game against Winnipeg “might’ve been our best game in the last six games.” Team Teal was tied with the Central Division powerhouse 3-3 in the third frame before Nikolaj Ehlers found the back of the net twice to give the Jets the advantage. San Jose still sits in second place in the Pacific Division with 43 points.
The Kings, on the other hand, continue to occupy the basement of the division standings. They are 3-5-2 in their last 10 contests and are 4-10-2 overall when playing on the road. LA has been idle since Tuesday when they beat those same Winnipeg Jets 4-1. It was only the Kings second win in their last eight games.
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SIGN UP HERE Saturday’s contest marks only the second time this campaign the Sharks and Kings have faced each other and the first time the Kings have traveled upstate to visit the Tank. When these teams met back on October 5, the Sharks tallied a 3-2 victory in overtime.
Sharks projected lines and pairs:
Evander Kane – Joe Pavelski – Joonas Donskoi
Tomas Hertl – Logan Couture – Timo Meier
Marcus Sorensen – Joe Thornton – Kevin Labanc
Melker Karlsson – Barclay Goodrow – Lukas Radil
Marc-Edouard Vlasic – Justin Braun
Radim Simek – Brent Burns
Brenden Dillon – Erik Karlsson
San Jose Sharks
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Martin Jones – projected starter
Aaron Dell
Kings projected lines and pairs:
Alex Iafallo – Anze Kopitar – Dustin Brown
Adrian Kempe – Jeff Carter – Tyler Toffoli
Brendan Leipsic – Nate Thompson – Ilya Kovalchuk
Austin Wagner – Mike Amadio – Matt Luff
Derek Forbort – Drew Doughty
Jake Muzzin – Sean Walker
Daniel Brickley – Oscar Fantenberg
Jonathan Quick – projected starter
Cal Petersen